Yarn & Fibre Base Info

Yarn & Fibre Base Info
and the Goddesses who lend their names.

Black Annis Sock: 80% Superwash BFL (Blue-Faced Leicester) Wool, 20% Nylon. Coming soon.

Black Annis is a “blue-faced cannibal with long white teeth who snatched people from their firesides to devour them, this British form of the Cailleach was said to live in Argyll.... In Leicester, according to Lewis Spence, Black Annis lived in a round cave in the Dane Hills.”

Gum Lin Sock: 80% Bamboo, 20% Superwash Merino Wool. This is a very shiny, soft fingering yarn that is great for socks and makes amazing glistening shawls and lacy scarves. I dye it most in solids, and sometimes varigated. 473 yards each. (carried regularly)

Gum Lin Pure Bamboo: 100% Bamboo, fingering or sport. (limited edition base)

Gum Lin is a heroine of Chinese folklore. She was "a poor peasant girl whose task it was to weave mats of bamboo and sell them in the market." She saves her village from starvation by opening the floodgates from a lake in the mountains nearby.I knew because of the large amount of bamboo fibre in this yarn base that an Asian, and likely a Chinese goddess/heroine was going to be the best choice. It took some time to find one where bamboo was mentioned.

Heithrun Sock: 80% Superwash Merino Wool, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon. This is a very soft, fluffy 3-ply fingering yarn, wonderful for socks, scarves, mitts, fingering-weight tops or shawls. 375 yards approx. (carried regularly)

Heithrun Sport: 80% Superwash Merino Wool, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon. This is a very soft, fluffy 3-ply sport yarn, wonderful for socks, scarves, mitts, sport-weight tops or shawls. 246 yards approx. (limited edition base)

Heithrun DK: 80% Superwash Merino Wool, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon. This is a very soft, tightly-spun 4-ply DK yarn, wonderful for socks, scarves, mitts, DK-weight tops or shawls. 170-200 yards per 4-5oz skein. (carried regularly)

Heithrun is a goat in Norse mythology who feeds from the Yggdrasil tree and produces mead drunk by Einherjar (dead warriors in Valhalla).

Hsi Ling Shih Silk DK: 100% Silk, single ply, 160 yards per 100grams. (limited edition base)

Hsi Ling Shih is (the) "ancient and legendary Chinese empress (who) was said to have invented silk and the culture of silkworms and to have taught it to her people."

Kuan-Yin Sock: 75% Superwash Merino Wool/15% Cashmere/10% Silk.  A very soft, springy, luxurious 3-ply sock yarn. (carried regularly)

Kuan-Yin is the feminine bodhisattva, or “Buddha-to-be”.  “Both in Japan and in pre-revolutionary China, this semi-divine being was honored in virtually every home; she was the most powerful being in the entire Chinese pantheon.  It was said that Kuan-Yin was so concerned for humanity that, upon receiving enlightenment, she chose to retain human form rather than transcend it as pure energy.  And so she would stay until every single living creature attained enlightenment.”

Mama Quilla Fingering Singles: 100% Superwash Merino Wool. A tightly spun, single-ply superwash merino yarn, fingering-weight. 400 yards/366 metres.

Mama Quilla Worsted Singles (Formerly called Pales Worsted Singles): 100% Superwash Merino Wool. A super-soft, single-ply superwash merino yarn, worsted-weight. 225 yards/186 metres.

Pales Lace: 100% Superwash Merino Wool.  A springy 2-ply laceweight 100% Superwash Merino Wool.  988 yards/867 metres per 4oz/115grams. (carried regularly)

Pales Sock: 100% Superwash Merino Wool. A tight twist, custom-spun merino sock/fingering yarn with 400yards/366metres approx. (carried regularly)

Pales Sport: (limited edition) 100% Superwash Merino Wool. A bouncy, tightly twisted superwash sport-weight yarn. 246 yards/225 metres. (carried regularly)

Pales DK Fluffy: 100% Superwash Merino Wool.  Soft, strong, 4-ply SW Merino DK/light worsted, but with less twist, and more "fluffyness" than our regular Pales DK.  A generous 286 yards/262 metres per 4oz/115yards. (carried regularly)

Pales DK Twisty: 100% Superwash Merino Wool. A tightly-twisted superwash merino yarn, dk/light-worsted-weight. 200 yards/186 metres. (limited edition base)

Pales (pronounced PAW-lays) is the Roman goddess of cattle, sheep and shepherds. "There is some evidence, indeed, that she was not only one goddess but two: the goddesses of both small and of large cattle. At her festival, the Parilia on April 21st, the stock-keeping farmers purified their animals by driving them between blazes of fragrant woods; then they offered a long prayer to Pales begging forgiveness for any unintended slight against nature committed in the previous year."

Silkie Sock: (limited edition) 50% Superwash Merino Wool/50% Silk.  A soft, shiny 2-ply sock yarn with a nice plump twist. 383 yards per 4oz. (limited edition base)

Silkie "took her name from the silk clothing she wore..." She was a "Scottish house goddess who sneaked into homes to clean whatever was left in disorder".

Thalassa SeaSilk Lace: 60% SeaCell, 40% Silk. This is a shiny laceweight yarn, perfect for shawls and other lacy items. 700 yards. (carried regularly)

Thalassa is a Greek Ocean Goddess, possibly the same as Tethys. "...she was said to be the fish mother, creator of all sea life. Her name, which means 'sea', survives in the word for a mercantile sea kingdom, thalassocracy. Some find in her a personification of the Mediterranean sea, others an image of all the world's oceans.

Uke-Mochi Fingering: 100% Soybean, fingering weight yarn, 383 yards per 4oz. (limited edition base)

Uke-Mochi is Japan’s food goddess who regurgitated rice, fish, seaweed and game to feed her people.

Umaj Sock: 70% Superwash Merino Wool, 20% Bamboo, 10% Nylon. This is a great, smooth, fluffy shiny sock/fingering yarn, that would also work for lace projects like shawls. 466 yards each per 4oz. (carried regularly)

Umaj is from Russian Siberia, from many different ethnic groups/traditions. "All worshiped a birth goddess of this name." She was many things to many groups, but the main themes were birth, child bearing/placenta, nursing, protector of newborns and of horses, and bringer of luck in hunting.

Vellamo Sock: 70% Superwash Wool, 30% Seacell. A soft, slightly shiny sock yarn with a nice plump twist. 383 yards each per 4oz. (limited edition)

Vellamo is a "Finnish sea goddess (who) lived underwater with her daughters, the waves, who tended cattle and raised mysterious crops on the ocean's floor."

Vajravaraski's Collection: is a mix of all yarns/fibres that are on bases not used regularly in the shop, or are luxury yarns, or are OOAK (one of a kind) in either colourway and yarn/fibre base.

Vajravaraski is a Tibetan goddess, a "'wanderer of the air'...said in Tibet to incarnate herself regularly as a Buddhist abbess who never slept; she had magical powers to protect the nuns under her care. Once, when a Mongol chieftain tried to take over the abbey, he could not find it. In its place, there was a herd of pigs with a very large wild sow at its head. After the danger passed, the spell of metamorphosis was unnecessary, and the nuns were restored to human form."
A last minute addition, I felt Vajravaraski was necessary to gather up all the "misfits" that didn't fit into the other categories above. She is the caretaker of special, and unique beings, those not generally part of the rest of society. She appears to be the perfect choice for the "extras" needing a wing to hide under.

Spinning Fibre:

Black Annis Top: 100% Superwash BFL (Blue-Face Leicester) Wool.  See Black Annis Sock for goddess info.

Bo Find Top: 100% Milk Protein.

Gum Lin Pure Bamboo Top: 100% Bamboo fibre.  See Gum Lin sock for goddess info.

Heithrun Top: 80% Superwash Merino Wool/10% Cashmere/10% Nylon.  See Heithrun sock/sport/dk for goddess info.

Mamapacha Alpaca Top: (currently discontinued) 100% Alpaca.
Mamapacha is an Incan Earth Goddess. "Mamapacha was also the deity of agriculture; rituals in her honor had to be performed daily to assure a sufficient food supply. During planting and harvest, women would travel to the fields to talk softly to Mamapacha, sometimes pouring a thank-offering of cornmeal on her surface." For alpaca, a South American agriculture/earth goddess seem appropriate.

Samovila Top: 50% Superwash Merino Wool/50% Tencel.

Silkie Top: 65% Superwash Merino Wool/35% Silk.  See Silkie Sock for goddess info.

Sunna Top: 100% Superwash Merino Wool. Very soft.
Sunna is the Scandinavian Sun Goddess. "'Mistress Sun', the ancient Scandinavians used to sing, 'sits on a bare stone and spins on her golden distaff for the hour before the sun rises.' To the people of the north, as to many others, the bright day-bringing star was feminine, the goddess Sunna - still honored whenever we point to the sun."

Umaj Top: 50% Superwash Merino Wool/50% Bamboo.  See Umaj sock for goddess info.

* All quotes from “The New Book of Goddesses & Heroines” by Patricia Monaghan.